Some would argue that with the prevalence of reality TV and the past decade's obsession with celebrity culture, the dumb revolution has already happened. But then they didn't watch New England lose 1-0 at Columbus Saturday, foolishly trying to play what its coach Steve Nicol condemned as "pretty passes."

"In the first half, if not for most of the game, we were just dumb," Nicol said after his team failed to take advantage of a red card to Frankie Hejduk that reduced the Crew to ten men. "If you look at how they played and how we played, particularly [in the] first half, we tried to make passes in the middle of our own half and they just squeezed us.

"And that's OK. We know there are times when you have to play the game ugly. But [Saturday], there wasn't a need for playing pretty passes and getting through people, because we did that and we tried that and it didn't work but we weren't smart enough to change it."

The win put Columbus eight points clear of the Revolution in both the Western Conference and the overall MLS standings, making the Crew clear favorites to win the Supporters' Shield. New England midfielder Jeff Larentowicz called for the installation of more reflecting glass in the Revs' locker room: "It's a time that we all need to look at ourselves in the mirror and really change things before next weekend."